Genetic and descriptive psychology

pp. 52-61

in: Theodorus de Boer, The development of Husserl's thought, Berlin, Springer, 1978

Abstract

The themes discussed in the previous chapter all pertain to descriptive psychology. In this chapter I will show that Husserl attached himself to a certain tradition inaugurated by Brentano. The problematics embedded in the duality of genetic and descriptive psychology can perhaps be regarded as the driving force in the thinking of Husserl; after 1907 it finally led him to distinguish between descriptive psychology and transcendental phenomenology.